The timing of Barry O’Farrell’s departure, and its aftermath, reveal much about the heavily factionalised NSW Liberal Party

POLITICS these days is not only big business, but also smart business. The age of the street-corner soapbox, town hall meeting and leaflet letterboxing has long given way to the slick sophistication of opinion polling, focus groups, clinically tested and targeted messages, and deft use of social media. But not far beneath this glittering veneer of high-tech gimmickry is the real political dynamic of old that has never changed – a raw and visceral tribalism that predates all but the most basic technology…

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